The Truth is a Lie #6

Sorry for the absence. The Leader isn't a very good blogger. But the Leader finally has something to say.

This morning I had a meeting with a writer rep at BMI. And I want to let you know that it doesn't look like I will be a "Nashville Country Songwriter" any time soon. Apparently no publishers want to hear songs written by just one person. They only want to know "who are you writing with?" and that person better be a staff songwriter or an artist. There is no wonder all of the product coming out of the country music corporations is so pathetic.

I moved up here a year and half ago because I thought I could find someway to turn my songs into some kind of living. I had a meeting with a publisher right before I moved up here, and he told me that he liked my songs, but that there wasn't much chance of him getting them on the radio. And that's the only thing he cared about. He told me I'd be better off getting the Gunroom up here and getting them signed to a label. But the holding the gunroom together back then was enough of a challenge. And I moved on up here anyway. Maybe I should have known better, but I didn't really know what else to so. A year and half later I still don't, so I thought that BMI might be a good place to start. It doesn't hurt to hear what folks in the business have to say.

The guy at BMI told me that if I want to be a country song writer I should get out and go to showcases and number 1 parties, network, and meet other writers and try to get them to write with me ---- that's why you've got all these desperate folks running around looking for someone to write with. That's why no one can write a song by themselves any more. Because no one will listen to it unless it's got the right name on it. This system is Fucked! And I probably knew that going in, but I figured that my stuff is pretty damn good, so it's worth a shot. But you know what? It does not matter in the least how good it it.

So, I could either spend all of my free time going to parties full of people I don't know and asking people to "write with me" or I could shove that nonsense aside and get on with playing some music. I'd love for Tim McGraw to record "Hot Rod Century." But I sing it a lot better than he ever could. So that's what I'm gonna do. After this morning's meeting, I think that being an artist is the only way to go.

Be on the look out, because I'm coming to your town!

Bryan Hartley
Poet of Doom. Man of Style.
(Thanks to L. for the six word bio idea.)